Why Quality Matters: The Link Between Food, Environmental Toxins, and Women's Health

It is widespread among people to believe that if they watch what they eat, they'll be able to stay healthy. While this is correct, it goes far deeper than that. Many individuals underestimate the significance of food quality. While eating 'healthy' foods is vital, examining the food's quality is equally necessary.

Eating fruits and vegetables that were not cultivated in nutrient-dense soil and were intensively sprayed with herbicides and pesticides would not provide as many nutrients as eating organically farmed food. In addition, instead of using nutrients to support our bodily functions, our liver and kidney will have to work harder to break down and removes all the pesticides the plants were treated with. Overall, it doesn't matter whose diet you follow; what matters most is the ingredients' quality.

Unfortunately, healthful foods, particularly high-quality meat, are generally more expensive, making it difficult for many people to purchase higher-quality fruit and meat. However, eating nutritious, even organic meals on a tight budget is still possible, especially if you eliminate some of those unneeded, greasy snacks.

Remember that even though higher-quality food could be more expensive, eating a high-quality diet now could decrease healthcare costs in the future, trying to make it worthwhile to invest in your health.

Food: A Better Nutrient Source

One measurement of food quality is the number of nutrients in relation to the amount of energy provided. High-quality foods are nutrient-rich, which means they have a high concentration of one or more vital nutrients in relation to the number of calories they contain. Nutrient-dense foods are the polar opposite of "empty-calorie" foods like carbonated sugary soft drinks, which contain a lot of calories but very few, if any, other nutrients. Food quality is also affected by its taste, texture, appearance, microbiological presence, and consumer preference.

While vitamins, multivitamins, and supplements are great to take daily, there is no consistent evidence that they are more effective than diet in promoting health and preventing disease. Supplements only include what is indicated on the label. In contrast, foods contain many more macronutrients, micronutrients, and other compounds that improve health, such as antioxidants. Obtaining all of your micronutrients from foods rather than supplements is preferable.

How Environmental Toxins Harm Women's Health

Toxins in the environment are all over. We all fight daily to avoid consuming, absorbing, and inhaling them. However, when it comes to protecting our health, women may have more to worry about than men.

Women generally have a higher body fat percentage than men. Environmental toxins are commonly stored in fat cells and released into the bloodstream. Thus, the more fat we have, the more toxins we accumulate in our adipose tissue.

Environmental illnesses—those "invisible illnesses," including autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia—affect women more than men.

Women also have higher allergic reactions, respiratory problems, and skin sensitivities and are more sensitive to air pollution than men.

One of the most important things you can do for your health as a woman is to limit your exposure to environmental pollutants.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs)

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can disrupt the body's endocrine system and have negative developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immunological consequences in humans and wildlife. Plastic bottles, metal food cans, detergents, flame retardants, food, toys, cosmetics, and pesticides are all examples of endocrine disruptors.

EDCs lead to inflammation, weight gain, and insulin resistance, as well as stimulating cell growth when they should not, resulting in issues such as early puberty in girls and breast cancer in women.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals disrupt not only our sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) but also our metabolic hormones (i.e., insulin and thyroid hormones) and have been proven to stimulate the stress response, boosting cortisol.

EDC and Female Reproductive Health

There is greater evidence currently than in 2002 from laboratory studies that chemical exposures can interfere with endocrine signaling of pubertal timing, fecundity and fertility, and menopause.

Hormones play an essential role in reproduction. They include the sex hormones estrogen in women, androgens (testosterone) in males, and pituitary and hypothalamic hormones in both genders.

EDCs create increased levels of circulating estrogen, which causes the lining of your uterus to thicken more than it should between periods. It is this lining that sheds when you have your period. A thicker lining causes more significant cramping and may result in considerably heavier periods in many women.

Where do toxins hang out?

In our food

There's much more to our food than what we think we're eating. The hidden "ingredients" include a whole range of additives, coloring, preservatives, stabilizers, herbicides, pesticides, plastics, and—get this—pharmaceuticals, industrial solvents, heavy metals, and recreational drugs, to name a few of the thousands of contaminants that make their way from industry and agriculture into our bodies.

In our water

It is known that these environmental toxins end up in our water supply; we are all exposed unless we filter the water we drink.

In our air

We are talking about gasoline, heavy metals like mercury, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like pesticides and DDT. The last two listed are especially harmful because they are long-lasting, do not break down in the environment, and can build up in the tissues of organisms.

Even though our bodies are pretty good at removing toxins, we can still help our liver by decreasing the chemicals we are exposed to daily. Thus this means that we should pay attention to the quality of the food we eat. Doing so is especially important if you are planning to get pregnant soon.

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Anastasiia De La Cruz